We’re well into planning and organizing for our 5th edition of ICFF Junior – our youth focused international festival running from May 8th until May 13th, 2017. We’re also thrilled to be working again with our partners and film locations at TIFF Bell Lightbox, Cineplex Yorkdale, Cineplex Cinemas Theatre in Vaughan, and SilverCity Cinema in Richmond Hill.
Another new exciting partnership that we’re involved with this year is with the Giffoni Film Festival, one of the world’s largest festivals for youth. We’ll have the honour of hosting Claudio Gubitosi, the artistic director and founder of GFF.
The films selected are all screened in their original languages, with English subtitles. We have expanded the festival to an international festival, featuring films originating in Italian, French, Portuguese, Spanish, and Tagalog.
The 9 films that we’ve selected to be screened are:
Le Voyage de Fanny ( French )
Le Voyage de Fanny is a Canadian Premiere that depicts a young girl attempting to escape the Nazi regime that’s occupied France. Along with her sisters, Fanny must face great challenges to get out of harms way.
Donkey Flies ( Italian )
Donkey Flies was our winner last year, is a story about a young boy in his quest to follow his dream to become a musician. Due to this limited resources, Maurizio has to discover creative solutions along with his trusted confidant, a donkey named Moses.
Heidi ( Italian )
Heidi is a story of a young girl who becomes close with her reclusive grandfather in the mountainside, only to be uprooted and sent to Frankfurt. Heidi forms a friendship with Klara, a young girl confined to a wheelchair. Heidi also finds it difficult because she’s in a new country, and completely different culture.
Come Diventare Grandi Nonostante i Genitori ( Italian )
Come Diventare Grandi Nonostante i Genitori – Involves parents and teachers in constant disagreement. Alex, a high school student, has formed a band with his friends, and they want to enter into a music contest for local high schools. The new principal opposes this, and decides to double the daily workload for the students. The students decide to enter the contest anyhow, and will do their best to overcome all the obstacles created by both the principal and their parents.
L’ami ( French,Italian)
L’ami – François d’Assise et ses frères – Italy, 1209, the Church and Pope Innocent III don’t trust Francis of Assisi, and they become very suspicious. The intrusion of the high authority will create divisions within the Order, and Francis is summoned by the Church to rewrite the founding text of their brotherhood, which will become the Order of the Minor Friars.
Blanka ( Tagalog )
Blanka – Blanka makes her living in the streets of Manila from petty crimes, but she dreams of saving enough money to “buy” a mother. She meets Peter, a talented 55 years old blind nomadic musician, and her life takes an unexpected turn. Blanka learns to sing, and she can use this skill to make money. Peter becomes concerned about Blanka’s future, and decides to take Blanka to an orphanage, but she runs away.
La Guerre des Tuques ( Tagalog )
La Guerre des Tuques – Sophie and her little sister Lucie move to a new village where the majority of children seem to be boys. 11 year old Luc and Sophie become the two leaders of opposing sides for a snow fight. Sophie and her team must defend their elaborate snow fort against the assault of Luc and his team. Whichever side occupies the fort at the end of the winter break, wins.
Zipi y Zape y la Isla del Capitán ( Spanish )
Zipi y Zape y la Isla del Capitán – Bad boy twins Zip & Zap need to be punished and sent to summer school at Hope, a strict correctional center. They form the Marble Gang, to defy and resist the evil headmaster. The Marble Gang also uncovers a mysterious secret hidden deep within the school, leading to perhaps the most exciting adventure of their lives.
A té que A Sbórnia nos Separe ( Portugese )
A té que A Sbórnia nos Separe – Sbornia is a small country that has always been isolated from the rest of the world, surrounded by a large wall. An accident leads to the wall falling, and enables the Sbornians to begin discovering new and modern customs. Some citizens embrace this foreign culture, while others prefer to keep with their Sbornians traditions, and resist the change.
This year the ICFF Junior, in partnership with TCDSB, created a contest called Your Short, open to grades 9 – 12. The goal of this contest is to enable our next generation of filmmakers an opportunity to gain valuble film experience, and have the potential to win the Jim Saraco Award!
ICFF Junior is pleased to be in strong collaboration with Ontario school boards, inviting thousands of students from over 40 schools, to see unique, challenging and educational local and foreign-language films, which would otherwise not be available to young students. We are looking forward to seeing you all soon!
To purchase tickets or book your school for our ICFF Jr. festival please click here.
